Fly.io vs. AWS

As AI technology advances, choosing the right platform is crucial for your team's speed, governance, and long-term success. Both Fly.io and AWS have their strengths. The sections below compare them across developer experience, scalability, and total cost of ownership.

As AI technologies evolve, delivering and scaling applications has become essential for powering modern businesses, from AI startups to large-scale enterprises. There are various solutions available, including comprehensive cloud operating systems, managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and traditional IaaS. Selecting the right platform is crucial for your team's velocity, governance, and long-term success.

Fly.io and AWS both bring unique strengths to application delivery, each with its own capabilities and limitations. The best choice depends on your specific use case and requirements. In the following sections, we'll compare both platforms regarding developer experience, scalability, and total cost of ownership, helping you determine the most suitable option for your needs—even if it's not us.

Fly.io vs. AWS at a Glance

Feature	Fly.io	AWS
Infrastructure	Edge micro-VMs (Firecracker)	AWS-managed PaaS
Source Available
Deployment Options	Cloud only	AWS cloud only
Free Trial	Free allowance (shared CPU, limited)	AWS free tier (limited)
Max vCPU per Service	Plan-based (per VM size)	Plan-based (EC2 instance types)
Max RAM per Service	Plan-based (per VM size)	Plan-based (EC2 instance types)
Custom Domains		(Route 53 / ALB)
Replicas per Service	(within org limits)	Plan-based (Auto Scaling)
Cron Jobs	Scheduled machines	CloudWatch/EventBridge
Log Retention	Limited (plan-based)	Configurable (CloudWatch)
Scale-to-Zero	(saves on idle)
App Marketplace

Cost evidence

Monthly Cost Examples: Plans vs. Usage Billing

Estimates use the listed average CPU and RAM for a 30-day month. Storage and egress are excluded unless a platform note says otherwise.

Workload examplePlatform and monthly costEstimated difference

Small API

2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 24/7

Fly.ioEstimate

~$85/mo

AWSEstimate

~$90/mo

Fly.io 72% lower

Medium App

8 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 24/7

Fly.ioEstimate

~$300/mo

AWSEstimate

~$320/mo

Fly.io 60% lower

Production Stack

16 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 24/7

Fly.ioEstimate

~$600/mo

AWSEstimate

~$600/mo

Fly.io 15% lower

Small API

2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 24/7

Fly.ioEstimate

~$85/mo

AWSEstimate

~$90/mo

Fly.io 72% lower

Medium App

8 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 24/7

Fly.ioEstimate

~$300/mo

AWSEstimate

~$320/mo

Fly.io 60% lower

Production Stack

16 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 24/7

Fly.ioEstimate

~$600/mo

AWSEstimate

~$600/mo

Fly.io 15% lower

Fly.io calculation: estimated using always-on VM pricing (CPU + RAM) across 720 hours/month

AWS calculation: EC2 + ELB + CloudWatch over 720 hours/month

Sources:Fly.io Pricing·AWS Elastic Beanstalk Pricing

Fly.io Overview

Fly.io is an edge application platform that runs apps as lightweight Firecracker micro-VMs across a global network. It emphasizes Dockerfile-first deployments and a powerful CLI (`flyctl`) for fast, scriptable workflows. Fly.io provides Anycast networking, global routing, per-region scaling, and scale-to-zero for idle workloads, making it a strong fit for latency-sensitive apps and globally distributed teams.

AWS Overview

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a mature AWS-native PaaS that automates deployment and scaling on top of EC2, ELB, Auto Scaling, and CloudWatch. It supports multiple runtimes, integrates deeply with AWS services, and lets teams deploy via the EB CLI or console. Beanstalk simplifies infrastructure management while keeping you inside the AWS ecosystem and cost model.